Do you have a American Range that works well with liquid propane?

9 years ago

Does anyone have an American Range LIQUID PROPANE model that they are happy with, in other words, that you think is working properly?

And if so, is it a Performer or Cuisine?

I ask because American Range said their Performer models (open burners and higher btus) sometimes do not work well with certain local mixes of propane, and that I might have better luck with a Cuisine (sealed burners and lower btus) because the burners are designed differently.

While this may be possible, I don't really buy it and called my local propane company. They said most companies in California get propane from essentially the same supplier, and that noone changes the mixture locally. In other words, propane is propane in California. American Ranges are built in California, and I presume they get Performers and Cuisines alike to work well in the factory. With propane being the same across California, and the elevations of the AR factory and my home being very similar (1,000 ft vs 1,200 ft), as long as they send me a Performer that is setup properly for propane and that works well in the factory, then it should also work well in my home - right? Or am I missing something?

However, my friends across town have a liquid propane Cuisine that they're somewhat happy with, but they did expect the performance to be better/stronger.

Therefore, I wonder if what AR is really saying is that their models are designed in a way that perform strongly with natural gas, but that struggle with liquid propane. When I really think about it though, this doesn't seem possible unless they use a particular regulator that is not designed to work well with liquid propane.

Can anyone shed some light on this topic?

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Comments (3)

pauli36846
9 years ago
Foodiefrog,

I too would like to find a range that has large enough BTU output on LP, (as well as one that doesn't decompose in the period of less than 5 years to need removal to a landfill.)

I think part of the LP problem is that it contains less energy than natural gas. One must change the orifices from natural gas that they usually come with to those used for LP. Air intake is different for LP as well. One of the few disadvantages of living rurally.
foodiefrog
Original Author
9 years ago
Hi Pauli...Hopefully I'll be able to say an American Range Performer is what you may want. They're nearly all metal and thus constructed like a tank. My unit was beautifully fit together, but unfortunately something was wrong with the guts inside. They have no electronics, and they're mechanically simple. So as long as you get a good one, it should give years and years of service and be repairable when something breaks.

I found out through a distributor that many people in rural California have been happy with LP American Ranges, both the open burner Performer line and the sealed burner other lines. The Performer, however, has the stronger performance / higher btus, so that is the one to which I had narrowed it down.

I will let everyone know how it goes with the replacement process.
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robguz24
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Do you have a American Range that works well with liquid propane?

Comments (3)

pauli36846

foodiefrog
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Do you have a American Range that works well with liquid propane?

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pauli36846

foodiefrogOriginal Author

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foodiefrog
Original Author